History of the Ascape Tennsion & Sulphur Gulch RR

The AT&SG is a scenic branch line winding into the mountains above the small community of Ascape. A branch of the D&RG passes through Ascape. Years ago silver was discovered in Park City. After years of hauling ore through the mountains by mule train the Silver King mining company finally completed a branch line to Park City. This significantly increased the ability of the mine to gets its ore to the refinery. But now, in the year 1937, the silver vein is wearing thin. Ore is still being hauled from the Silver King mine but the AT&SG depends on other shippers to make a thin profit.

A rich vein of coal was discovered in the mountains south of Park City and the Sunshine mining company drilled a shaft. At the present time they are able to ship several loads of coal every day from their Sunshine mine to the Geneva Steel Mills in Provo. The Sunshine company purchased a major share in the AT&SG and this purchase, together with limited rights to use the D&RG line to Provo, has enabled their coal mining operation to be profitable.

From Ascape the line crosses over the pass at Summit and through the farming community of Tennsion. With the building of the railroad the ranchers in the area found that it was much easier to ship their cattle to market from Tennsion and Summit rather than driving their stock out of the mountains to Ascape for shipment. Most of this cattle is shipped east to the slaughter houses in Grand Junction. However, a small slaughter house, Miller Beef, at Ascape does process some of the beef. Tennsion is in a high mountain valley and a considerable amount of alfalfa hay is grown by the ranchers in the area. The amount of feed grown exceeds that which is consumed locally so some of this feed is also shipped to Ascape and on east to some of the cattle feed lots along the D&RG.

The largest challenge faced by the builders of the AT&SG was crossing Johnson canyon and the large chasm called by the locals Sulphur Gulch. The ranchers and their cow hands bestowed many a curse on this rugged canyon as they tried to drive their cattle to Ascape. Many felt that the Devil himself must have created this gash in the earth’s surface. It took over a year to build the large wooden trestle across Sulphur Gulch and almost as long to build the steel arch bridge across Johnson Canyon. If it had not been the strong desire to provide an easier way to move the silver ore from the Silver King mine the line would have been abandoned even before it got started.

The saw mill at Thistle was built to supply the lumber required by the trestle at Sulphur Gulch. In fact this project consumed the entire output from the mill during the construction of the trestle. After the first three years the line had extended to Thistle. With the completion of the trestle the mill began to generate a little traffic by shipping cut lumber to the interchange at Ascape. The next major challenge was the long tunnel at Sage. There was no other way to go except through the mountain. To complicate matters the logical uphill entrance to the Sage tunnel was right at Floathe Falls. It was decided that a large steel viaduct would be necessary to cross the canyon at the falls. Almost immediately after Floathe falls the line intersected Hail Stone Canyon. While not as deep and wide as Sulphur Gulch, Hail Stone Canyon required another wooden trestle to reach the mountain beyond. Everyone who worked on the line believed that the engineers who selected this route into the mountains were crazy.

After the line was completed across Sulphur Gulch, and long before it was completed to Park City, the saw mill at Thistle did a brisk business keeping the mill going from dawn to dark. Most of the timber for this operation was cut in the mountains near by. However, before long the supply of timber began to run thin and the operation sought another source of timber. For a while it looked like the operation at Thistle would have be close. However, about this time the Sunshine Mining Company began their operations and completed the line to the Sunshine Mine. Above the Sunshine mine was a wonderful stand of Douglas Fir and some Lodge Pole Pine. After a considerable struggle investors were finally persuaded to provide funds to extend the line above the Sunshine Mine to the timber stands in Mill Fork and Pole Canyon. At least for the present this stand of timber supplies far more timber than the Thistle mill can process so timber is also hauled to Ascape for shipment to larger mills in Provo.

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